Marga Weimans (52) has just had her first corona infection. Fortunately, she no longer has to cough and the fever is gone. In fact, besides a bit of fatigue, she did quite well, and that’s all thanks to an old soup chicken (more on that later). Time to quietly go back to work, in any case, and work can be enjoyed in Rotterdam this summer. Marga makes ‘a spatial textile work’. To be more precise: a curtain. Something other than clothes.
Who: Marga Weimans (52)
Known from: The designs for her own fashion label Marga Weimans, with collections such as Debut, City Life and Body Archive.
Also designed: The collection The Power of My Dreams, with which she won an iD Styling Award.
The curtain will be on display at Columeta in Rotterdam: a building built in the 1950s by a Luxembourg steel manufacturer to showcase the strength of steel. The building is now owned by two art-loving individuals who live in it themselves, but who also use it as a cultural space for lectures, for example. Because it is not only beautiful, such a curtain, but also useful for acoustics. Unfortunately it will be a while before we can see it. Marga’s designs have to be further developed, printed, and the curtain rails have not yet been delivered. It will be finished at the end of this year. There is still quite a bit of work to do, but oh well, then there is also something to do.
Supermarket: Pieter Pot
‘I try to generate as little waste as possible, which is why I have been a member of Pieter Pot for six months. You do your shopping there online and then get everything brought home in glass jars. When they come by, you hand in the old pots again, you will receive a deposit in return. Apart from the ecological aspect, it also feels like a wonderful form of luxury. Now that I’ve been doing it a little longer, I know better what I need. In the beginning you are over-enthusiastic, everything looks so nice in such a bottle or jar, and before you know it you have way too much pasta and oil in the house.’
Hobby: Gardening
‘Take care of plants is the best thing you can do. I enjoy watching something grow. It gives you something. It calms you down, it is alive, it offers something to the world. My husband is also an active gardener. We have a lot of plants in the house, upstairs we have a flower garden on the terrace, and in front of the door a narrow facade garden that is completely sufficient. Especially with sunflowers. Beautiful.’
Wash: Cold water
“I start my shower sessions with warm water, turning off the hot tap completely for the last two minutes. It seems to be healthy, but I mainly do it because it’s such a nice way to start the day. It instantly refreshes you. Sometimes I really don’t feel like it, especially in the winter, but then I do it anyway, because we’re in a comfort bubble, and it’s good to get out of that once in a while.’
Food: Soup chicken
‘I buy a chicken soup from the freezer at the organic supermarket almost every week to make chicken soup. Put a pan of water on, throw in the chicken already frozen, add a bunch of celery sticks. Then open your vegetable drawer and throw whatever vegetables you have left into the pan. Add bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, stock, salt and a red pepper and let it steep until the chicken is thawed, then add carbohydrates such as potatoes, stale macaroni or chickpeas. You can eat it for two days, and that for less than 10 euros.’
Music: Caroline Polachek
‘I’ve been a fan of singer Charli XCX for some time, and she sang a duet with Caroline Polachek a while ago, that’s how I found her. Polachek makes alternative pop, with quite alienating lyrics. She has a distinct voice; it sounds like she is generating autotune in her voice. I mainly listen to it while walking and working.’
